On Sunday, activists once again targeted UAV Engines, the Elbit Systems subsidiary located in the sleepy village of Shenstone, Lichfield. The duo, equipped with repurposed fire extinguishers, drenched the facade of the Israeli weapons firm with blood-red paint, disrupting site operations at the factory. Both activists were arrested at the site, joining the hundreds who have faced arrest in the campaign to #ShutElbitDown. A Palestine Action spokesperson said:

“Our operations in Shenstone will end when Elbit’s operations end. We take action not only to disrupt the business of bloodshed, but to dismantle it – a cause hundreds of people have been prepared to taken up and defend.We don’t take days off – from dawn to dusk, our actionists are poised and ready to continue halting the murderous Israeli arms trade.”

The action has served Elbit and its employees a visceral reminder that Palestine Action and its policy of sustained direct action will continue at UAV Engines until Elbit abandon the site. The site itself has been hit with direct action ranging from rooftop occupations, to lock-ons, to the Palestine Action Camp – begun August 27th, which recently saw intensified repression from police and security, a move which has evidently failed to halt resistance to the company.

The paint was symbolic of the blood of the Palestinian people – the ‘test-subject’ of Elbit’s weapons, who market their military goods as ‘battle-tested’. Palestine Action is a direct action network committed to extinguishing British support for Israel’s policy of occupation, colonisation and apartheid in Palestine – a flame which has flickered since the signing of the Balfour Declaration, in 1917, and continues today with Britain hosting 8 sites for Israel’s largest arms company.

Images: Martin Pope